


Battle Fatigue

by Uniasus



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sentient Atlas (Voltron), Ship bonds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29158896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: After their most recent fight, Black and Keith have a strong desire to check up on Shiro.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Battle Fatigue

**Author's Note:**

> After the fics I've been reading, I knew I'd create for this fandom again. And after reading [Little Monster by Demenior](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7877566/chapters/17991961) I needed a more gentle H/C.
> 
> This does take place in the same universe of [Guardians of the Sky](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16121945), but everything you need to know is in this fic.

_Check on him_ , Black said as Atlas opened the doors to Voltron's hangers. 

_Of_ _course_ , Keith sent back. Both of them needed that post-battle reassurance. 

Black never called Shiro by name, no surprise as the Lions didn't use those anyway, but she also never referred to Shiro by any other description either. Not ex-paladin. Nor captain or commander. Yet Keith always knew when the Black Lion meant Shiro. There was a fondness every time she mentioned him, a sense of openness Keith associated with the astral plane, a shadow of worry. 

Keith tried not to pry into the relationship Shiro and Black had, both in the past and present. But he knew that unlike Keith's faint tether to Red, Black and Shiro had completely cut ties. Both of them missed the connection, Keith could feel as such from Black and Shiro had mentioned it, but the choice had been made in unison.

It didn't stop Black from worrying, especially with her misgivings toward Atlas. Unlike with the other Lions, Black couldn't communicate with the large ship. She couldn't yell at him, or teach him how to work with a bond. Atlas had nearly drained Shiro of quintessence once. Black would never forget that. 

Nor would Keith. 

He'd been worried for Shiro ever since Atlas took the first hit. 

Seconds after he landed, he walked out of Black and toward the hanger exit. He quickly glanced over the rest of the team. They'd have nothing more than bruises. Keith exchanged a quick nod with Lance before walking out the door. They all knew where he was going. They'd check in later. 

Keith made his way to the nearest wall screen. _Where's Shiro?_ He typed. Pidge, Hunk, and Coran kept tinkering with a better way to talk to Atlas, but there were limitations. The cameras didn't always allow him to read lips, and the text-to-speech ability he had didn't work outside of select spaces. The chat program Pidge had built worked best.

 _On his way to quarters,_ Atlas answered. 

Without prompting, Atlas pulled up a list of damages. Keith ignored the list, eyes going straight for two metrics: repair time estimate at the top – twelve hours – and the reading of Atlas's energy stores – 70%. 

Blanking the screen, Keith headed for the personnel floors. In his mind, Black retreated. She'd been with him the past five minutes, desperate for information, but feeling Keith's reaction to Atlas's report calmed her down. They could estimate what condition Shiro would be in, and it wasn't worrying. 

Keith reached their bedroom the same type Coran and Shiro did. Coran had Shiro's natural arm around his neck, his own arm around Shiro's waist. Shiro's Altean arm hung from his right shoulder in standby mode and he leaned onto Coran a fair amount. 

"I got him," Keith said, taking Shiro's weight from Coran. He grunted, Shiro was taller than him and he'd been leaning more onto Coran that Keith had guessed. 

"You good?" Keith asked the Altean, giving the older man a quick wellness scan. 

"Fine, fine. The crew barely felt the drain, nor will we." Coran twirled one end of his orange mustache. "The other paladins?" 

"Allura's fine," Keith said. Coran worried for them all, but Allura would always be his main concern. "They should still be in the hanger." 

"Take care of Shiro." Coran left before Shiro could grumble out an answer. 

"I can take care of myself," Shiro said. He stumbled on his next step. 

Keith shook his head fondly, shifting his grip to help Shiro walk the few steps to their door. Atlas opened it, revealing their room exactly as they'd left it not two hours before. That is to say, sheets and blankets and pillows scattered across the floor. The alarm had sounded in the middle of the night and woken them, there'd been no time to care for the thrown aside covers. 

Now though, it was an extra step to do before Keith can make Shiro comfortable. He guided Shiro to the bed, then scooped up a pillow. "Lie down. Sleep." 

"Tell Black I'm fine," Shiro said, flopping over sideways. 

Sighing, Keith knelt to take off Shiro's shoes. "Already did. You only have to deal with my worry." 

"I'll be fine." Shiro yawned widely. Keith figured he had a minute, maybe two, until Shiro passed out. 

Gently, Keith lifted Shiro's feet and guided him into a more comfortable sleep position. He gathered the tossed aside bedclothes and dumped them on Shiro. The pillows he tossed on the bed too. Shiro didn't even grumble when one hit him in the face. 

"How bad do you feel?" Keith asked, crawling into bed. 

Shiro hummed. "Moderate fight sore. Tired." 

Sleep was the only cure for times like this. Atlas had been designed to collect power from multiple sources, but the most powerful and plentiful was quintessence. To repair himself, Atlas would take energy from the almost hundred crew aboard and use it to erase any damage he'd occurred in the short fight. Spread out, the drain was minimal. Well, for anyone but Shiro. As captain, Shiro insisted that Atlas take quintessence from him first before tapping into the crew. He also insisted on offering up at least a double helping, and that on top of any small quintessence needs that cropped up during a battle. An extra burst of speed. An extra three seconds for the shield. Shiro put his life on the line in more ways than one every fight. 

In a way, it wasn’t much different from working with the Lions. But Atlas was a hundred times bigger than Voltron and needed a lot more power. 

Keith tugged on Shiro's prosthetic arm, giving himself the space to scoot further into Shiro's warm. While the danger was slight, he still wanted to monitor Shiro's breathing and heart rate. He shimmied down an inch, laying his ear against Shiro's chest. The prosthetic settled on his shoulder. 

"I'm fine," Shiro said, half asleep. "Just need a nap." 

Atlas's damage might be minor, but it was enough to knock Shiro out. He'd sleep for a few hours, no doubt through breakfast, and they'd stumble into the canteen for lunch where Hunk would force food onto Shiro and everyone else would not-so-subtly make sure Shiro ate it all. 

Keith closed his eyes. Black hummed in satisfaction in the back of his mind. Shiro’s warmth seeped into his chest. It’s been a minor battle, but they were all safe. Shiro pulled him closer, Keith kissed his chest, and together they settled in to sleep. 


End file.
